Anti-government protests in Iran that started over the country's economic situation have continued for a third week. "The Daily Report" breaks down who and what's behind the demonstrations. And Elisa Ewers, the director of the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, discusses what a U.S. intervention in Iran would look like.

Protests in Iran have persisted for three weeks, triggered by economic grievances and resulting in significant casualties and arrests. The unrest marks the largest public mobilization since 2022, involving a broad coalition of merchants, students, ethnic minorities, and monarchists.

International responses have included non-military measures such as tariffs and support for protesters, while experts caution that military intervention could reinforce regime violence. Analysts note that the future of Iran remains uncertain, with sustainable change likely to depend on internal organization and leadership rather than external intervention.

What's behind the protests in Iran?

Protests in Iran have continued for a third week over the country's economic situation. Sources tell CBS News that at least 12,000 people have died during the protests. More than 10,000 have been arrested, according to the non-profit human rights activist news agency. This is the largest level of public unrest since protests in 2022 over the death of a 22-year-old arrested by Iran's morality police. The recent protest started with a group typically loyal to the regime, the Bazaaris, Iranian merchants and shop owners who were upset with the country's economic policies. They're credited with helping the Islamic revolution succeed in 1979 by giving the rebels a financial backbone and have remained a core constituency. Over the last few weeks, they've been in the streets protesting and closing up their shops across the country. The merchants have united with student groups who were key figures in past demonstrations, including the student protests of 1999, the Green Movement in 2009, and the Women Life Freedom Movement in 2022. Demonstrations have taken place at universities across the country, and teachers all over Iran have signed a letter standing with the protesters. Iran's ethnic minorities, specifically the Kurds and the Baluks, have also joined the protests. They've long advocated for more rights and a stronger voice in Iran's government. Merchants in Kurdish cities closed their shops in solidarity with striking Bazaaris in other parts of Iran. And also there are the monarchists who would like to see Iran return to having a Shah instead of a theocracy. They support Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah's heir. Pahlavi released statements supporting the protests, calling activists, quote, brave patriots. He's also advocated for nonviolent action, such as a nationwide chant of anti-regime slogans. During an interview on Monday with CBS News' Nora O'Donnell, he urged President Trump to take actions against Iran's regime before more protesters die. Alyssa Ewers joins us now. She's the director of the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. Thank you for being here. President Trump said last week if he intervenes, there will not be boots on the ground in Iran. What are the most realistic options he could pursue? Thank you for having me, and I think the key question in all of these deliberations on intervention is, what would the objective be and how would they impact what is happening on the ground? So this administration has already taken some non-military steps. They've announced tariffs on countries that trade with the Iranian regime. They could do more to support the protesters, including finding ways to make sure that they can circumvent the information blackout. But military intervention is unlikely to be prolonged and boots on the ground. It is likely if the president makes the decision to target the security forces of the regime, and that could cause some pain, but it could also reinforce the security forces commitment to use violence against these protesters. So the answer to the impact question on military intervention is a little bit more difficult to answer. Well, Iran's exiled crown prince told CBS's Nora O'Donnell that he wants the U.S. to intervene, quote, so this regime finally collapses. What happens to Iran if the current leadership fails? Well, these protests are so different from what we've seen in the past in terms of size, demographic, as you already noted, they build on the protests of the Women Life Freedom protests of just a couple of years ago. But we really don't think that this regime is going to go down without a fight. So what comes next is a lot of questions. How will the protests organize themselves politically? Can they galvanize around a central political figure? What happens to this very massive security apparatus that has had control over the country as an arm of the regime for decades? There are a lot of unknowns here, so it's likely to be a long and difficult process. Do you see Israel playing a role here? You know, the perennial question over the years has always been, can outside actors tip the balance of what happens inside of Iran? And clearly this regime has been weakened by the steps that Israel and the U.S. has taken over the last year militarily. But whether it's enough to act from the outside and whether now is the moment to tip that balance, I think that comes with a lot of risk. And ultimately, what comes next is going to be sustainable if it's driven by Iranians themselves. Alyssa, yours. Thank you. Thank you.

Around 2,000 people including security personnel have been killed in protests in Iran, an Iranian official said, the first time authorities have acknowledged the high death toll from an intense crackdown on two weeks of nationwide unrest.

Tehran

Iran official says 2,000 killed in nationwide unrest

Former President Bill Clinton is refusing to appear before the House Oversight Committee to testify as part of its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. CBS News congressional correspondent Nikole Killion has more.

Washington

Bill Clinton skips Epstein deposition on Capitol Hill

Former Corsican nationalist leader Alain Orsoni, who also served as the president of soccer club AC Ajaccio, was shot dead in Corsica on January 11 during his mother’s funeral. He was 71. Alain Orsoni was one of the leaders of the Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC) in the 1980s. He later founded and led the Movement for Self-Determination (MPA).

Vero

Ex-Corsican nationalist leader Alain Orsoni killed at mother's funeral

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who needs to have a graft conviction overturned to seize her best chance at the French presidency, risks seeing her life's work upended if she loses her appeal. It comes after a French court last year barred her from running for office for five years over a European Parliament fake-jobs scam involving her and other officials from her National Rally party.

Paris

Marine Le Pen's appeal in EU fund embezzlement case opens in Paris

British regulators are investigating X for lewd AI images generated by Grok, the AI arm of Elon Musk's social platform. Michael Goodyear, an associate professor at New York Law School, joins CBS News with more.

London

UK investigating Musk's X over Grok's AI-generated images

As U.S. President Donald Trump weighs a response to Iran's deadly crackdown on nationwide protests, Iranian leaders say they are still keeping communications open with the Americans. But on January 12, large pro-government rallies took place across Iran, and the U.S. was clearly framed as the enemy and instigator of the protests.

Iranian leaders mobilise supporters as U.S. weighs intervention

Last week an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent shot and killed Renee Good, a Minneapolis mother who was observing a law enforcement action carried out by the agency.

Minnesota

Minnesota sues federal government to prevent further ICE deployment

The demonstrations are the biggest Iran has seen in years. Protests spurred by the Iranian currency collapse have morphed into a larger test of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's rule.

Trump weighs military action against Iran over protest crackdown

President Claudia Sheinbaum has sought to safeguard Mexican sovereignty while cooperating with the US on key issues.

Mexico City

Mexico’s Sheinbaum rejects Trump’s threat of strikes on drug cartels

President Donald Trump said that any country which does business with Iran will face a tariff rate of 25% on trade with the U.S., as Washington weighs a response to the situation in Iran which is seeing its biggest anti-government protests in years.

Trump says nations trading with Iran will face 25% U.S. tariffs

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says his country is ready for war but also for dialogue, after US President Donald Trump said the US is considering ‘very strong options’ in response to Iran’s crackdown on antigovernment protests.

Iran FM Araghchi warns ready for war if U.S. wants to ‘test’ it

Britain will bring into effect a law criminalizing the creation of non-consensual intimate images this week, technology minister Liz Kendall told parliament after regulator Ofcom launched an investigation into Elon Musk's X.

UK investigates Musk's X over Grok sexual deepfakes

Iran's internet was cut off late last Thursday, apparently in an attempt by government authorities to prevent protesters from organizing and uploading videos for the outside world to see.

Iran enforcing nationwide internet blackout amid protests

Malaysia and Indonesia have become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk's company xAI, amid concerns that it is being misused to generate sexually explicit and nonconsensual images.

Malaysia and Indonesia block Musk’s Grok over sexualized AI images

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has welcomed German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who is on a two-day visit. Merz is traveling with a large business delegation as Germany seeks to deepen economic and security ties.

New Delhi

Germany's Merz makes first official visit to India

At the first major awards show of the season, "One Battle After Another" and "Adolescence" both won four awards. In a surprise win, "Hamnet" upset "Sinners" for best motion picture for a drama.

Los Angeles

"One Battle After Another," "Adolescence" win big at Golden Globes

Fallout from the fatal shooting of Renee Good by a U.S. immigration and customs enforcement officer in Minneapolis continues with government officials standing by the action and ordering more ICE officers into the city.

Minneapolis

Hundreds more ICE agents headed to Minneapolis after fatal shooting

Powell said the investigation, linked to a testimony he gave to a Senate committee about renovations to Fed buildings, was an attempt to limit central bank independence.

U.S. opens criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell

Protests continue in Iran amid a violent government crackdown. Activists say hundreds of demonstrators have been killed. President Trump says Iran now wants to negotiate to prevent a U.S. military response.

Trump says Iran 'wants to negotiate' as protests intensify

President Trump says Iranian leaders have reached out to the U.S. to negotiate, as massive protests continue and more deaths are reported by activists.

Trump weighs military option in Iran amid rising death toll

President Trump has been briefed on new military options for a strike against Iran amid widespread protests and a government crackdown on communications for Iranians, a senior U.S. official tells CBS News. "We'll be hitting them very hard where it hurts," he said at the White House.

Trump briefed on new military options for Iran strikes amid protests

Demonstrations in Iran are now entering their third week and the death toll is surging with hundreds killed, according to a human rights group. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei insisted that the Islamic regime will "not back down" in the face of the growing social unrest and calls for regime change.

Protests in Iran intensifying despite threat of death for dissidents

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas showcased a wide array of AI-powered innovations, including paper-thin televisions, interactive Lego, and binoculars that can identify bird species in real time. Notable breakthroughs included .Lumen's AI glasses for the visually impaired and Roborock's Saros Rover, a robotic vacuum cleaner capable of navigating stairs and various surfaces autonomously.

Las Vegas

Rise of AI

AI-powered innovation dominates Consumer Electronics show

Human remains were found in Australia's southeast where bushfires raging for days have razed buildings, cut power to thousands of homes and burned swaths of bushland, police said. The blazes are burning out of control during a summer heat wave in Victoria state.

Victoria

'Gut-wrenching': Australian bushfires expected to burn for weeks

Anti-government protests in Iran show no sign of stopping. Human rights groups are putting the death toll at 116 with 2600 detained. U.S. President Donald Trump has reaffirmed U.S. support for the protesters.

Protests in Iran defy government crackdown

Iran's army is threatening to join the crackdown on protesters as demonstrations against the regime grow and the death toll mounts. Huge crowds have taken to the streets across the Islamic Republic. Iran's Revolutionary Guard calls them "terrorists." Haley Ott has more details.

Iran's army threatens to join crackdown against protesters

President Trump said, "We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not," earlier this week. But Greenland, a territory of Denmark and a NATO ally, is rejecting the threats.

Nuuk

Greenland rejects Trump's threats

Trump, who often cites national security interests as the reason for taking Greenland, said that if the US does not do something, 'Russia or China will take over Greenland'.

Trump says U.S will act on Greenland, 'whether they like it or not'

Protests across the U.S., including in Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Miami, are taking place following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. Police declared the demonstrations in downtown Minneapolis an 'unlawful assembly'.

Philadelphia

Protests spread across the U.S. over ICE shooting of woman

Internet and phone lines in Iran have been cut off as anti-government protests enter their second week. Reports say at least 65 people have been killed and more than 2,300 others detained. U.S. President Donald Trump has warned of a possible U.S. response to the government crackdown.

Breakdown